Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
  • H04N21/426—Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof
  • H04N21/42684—Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/14—Session management
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/14—Session management
  • H04L67/146—Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/14—Session management
  • H04L67/148—Migration or transfer of sessions
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
  • H04N21/231—Content storage operation, e.g. caching movies for short term storage, replicating data over plural servers, prioritizing data for deletion
  • H04N21/23116—Content storage operation, e.g. caching movies for short term storage, replicating data over plural servers, prioritizing data for deletion involving data replication, e.g. over plural servers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
  • H04N21/242—Synchronization processes, e.g. processing of PCR [Program Clock References]
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
  • H04N21/414—Specialised client platforms, e.g. receiver in car or embedded in a mobile appliance
  • H04N21/41407—Specialised client platforms, e.g. receiver in car or embedded in a mobile appliance embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
  • H04N21/443—OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
  • H04N21/4431—OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB characterized by the use of Application Program Interface [API] libraries
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
  • H04N21/4508—Management of client data or end-user data
  • H04N21/4532—Management of client data or end-user data involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/47—End-user applications
  • H04N21/475—End-user interface for inputting end-user data, e.g. personal identification number [PIN], preference data
  • H04N21/4751—End-user interface for inputting end-user data, e.g. personal identification number [PIN], preference data for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/47—End-user applications
  • H04N21/475—End-user interface for inputting end-user data, e.g. personal identification number [PIN], preference data
  • H04N21/4753—End-user interface for inputting end-user data, e.g. personal identification number [PIN], preference data for user identification, e.g. by entering a PIN or password
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/47—End-user applications
  • H04N21/478—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
  • H04N21/4788—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application communicating with other users, e.g. chatting
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/47—End-user applications
  • H04N21/485—End-user interface for client configuration
  • H04N21/4856—End-user interface for client configuration for language selection, e.g. for the menu or subtitles
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/47—End-user applications
  • H04N21/488—Data services, e.g. news ticker
  • H04N21/4882—Data services, e.g. news ticker for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
  • H04N21/85—Assembly of content; Generation of multimedia applications
  • H04N21/858—Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
  • H04N21/8586—Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot by using a URL
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
  • H04L63/08—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities
  • H04L63/0823—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities using certificates
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
  • H04L63/16—Implementing security features at a particular protocol layer
  • H04L63/166—Implementing security features at a particular protocol layer at the transport layer

Definitions

• Fig. 7 is a drawing showing embodiments of the present invention comprising a real-time-request database construct
• Fig. 10 is a chart showing embodiments of the present invention comprising a server system wherein the location for requests from an electronic device may be transmitted form the server system to the electronic device;
• Fig. 25 is a drawing illustrating embodiments of the present invention comprising communication between a first device associated with a content consumption device and a second device ;
• Fig. 40 is a chart showing embodiments of the present invention comprising a content-consumption device capturing content and sending the captured content to a server system
• Fig. 4 1 is a chart showing embodiments of the present invention comprising a content-consumption device processing captured content in relation to a content characteristic
• Fig. 42 is a chart showing embodiments of the present invention comprising a server system processing captured content received from a content-consumption device in relation to a content characteristic;
• Exemplary applications may comprise device remote- control help, device menu control help, device product manual, device customer agent driver frequently asked question (FAQ) help, device-to-device message transfer, user- to-user message transfer and other applications .
• applications follow a model-view-controller structure.
• a first electronic device 90 may connect to a second electronic device 9 1 through a server system 94 which may comprise a load balancer 96, multiple application instances (three shown) 97 , 98 , 99 which may reside on multiple central processing units (CPUs) , a main database 100 and multiple clustered databases (two shown) 101 , 102.
• a server system 94 which may comprise a load balancer 96, multiple application instances (three shown) 97 , 98 , 99 which may reside on multiple central processing units (CPUs) , a main database 100 and multiple clustered databases (two shown) 101 , 102.
• the RTR management logic may detect the data in the body of the request and may populate the XML response portion 199 of the RTR entry 196.
• a second data request may be made through the RTR database construct 181 by populating the HTTP Response portion 200 of the RTR database construct 181 .
• the RTR management logic may detect the response 200 in the RTR database construct 181 , and may send 201 , in an XML command in the body of the HTTP response , the data request and a next URL, nextURL3 , to the first client device .
• the next URL, nextURL ⁇ may be encoded for the RTR thread.
• a first device may receive (S430) a connection initiation signal.
• the connection initiation signal may be generated in response to a single-button push, a combination of button pushes, a menu selection, powering up the device and other methods.
• the first device may send (S432) a password to a server system.
• the first device may receive (S434) from the server system an updated registration and discovery list.
• the discovery list may comprise a list of pseudo names for other devices.
• the discovery list may comprise a buddy list.
• connection to the server system 502 may be initiated 5 10 when the first device 500 is powered up. In still alternative embodiments, connection to the server system 502 may be initiated 510 by a combination of button presses on the first device 500 , by a menu selection from the first device
• Some embodiments of the present invention described herein provide session synchronization between multiple devices through the creation of a database construct (e. g. , an RTR table) which stores self-contained requests for all devices and applications. Entries in the database construct may be based on synchronized response trips for communicating devices, thereby providing device independence allowing user sessions that may span multiple devices at the same time or in sequence.
• a database construct e. g. , an RTR table
• (I / O) interface 552 may be used as an interface for communicating to a first device 554.
• the first peripheral device 550 and the first device 554 may be communicatively coupled 553 by a wired, wireless or other connection .
• the first device 554 may be connected 555 to a server system 556 by a wired, wireless or other connection.
• a second device 558 may be connected 557 to the server system 556 by a wired, wireless or other connection.
• a second peripheral device 560 may be used as an interface to the second device 558.
• the second peripheral device 560 and the second device 558 may be communicatively coupled 559 by a wired, wireless or other connection.
• Exemplary devices may include televisions and other media-playing devices.
• Exemplary peripheral devices may include PDAs, handheld gaming devices, other personal handheld devices and other peripheral devices.
• content may be shared between the first device 554 and the second device 558.
• a server system application may populate a list of devices available for other users.
• the server system 556 may read device details for a device from the device 554 , 558, and the server system 556 may make these details available to other users to whom the device 554 , 558 may be available .
• the list of devices may be very large, and a list mechanism may be available for users to build a preference list from the larger list.
• the list mechanism may be based on pseudo names .
• the list mechanism may allow formation of interest groups .
• the interest group may be based on television viewing habits.
• the client peripheral task in these embodiments may communicate with external peripheral devices 550 , 560 to send and receive data directly.
• communication between a device 554 , 558 and a peripheral device 550, 560 may be wired communication.
• communication may be wireless.
• Some embodiments may comprise a smart peripheral client which may determine if a server system 556 request task may be performed on the device 554 , 558 or if the request should be forwarded to the peripheral device 550 , 560.
• the client peripheral task may use the peripheral device to perform various functions. Exemplary function may include key input, visual display, computation and other functions. In some embodiments, functions may be split between the device and the peripheral.
• a device platform 590 may be connected 59 1 to a peripheral 592 comprising a peripheral platform 593 by a wired, wireless or other connection.
• the peripheral platform 593 may communicate with the device platform 590.
• the peripheral platform 593 may assist the device platform 590 in display and I/ O functions .
• the peripheral platform 593 may comprise a dumb terminal which captures key input from a user and redirects the input to the device using the device interface.
• the peripheral platform 593 may further accept messages from the device platform and display them on the peripheral platform 593.
• an updated discovery list may be sent from the server system
• the server system 674 may receive a message from the first user with an intended recipient of the second user in the communication session between the first user and the second user.
• the server system 674 may parse , interpret or otherwise examine the message to determine a communication session topic or topics.
• the communication session topic, or topics may be determined based on the content being consumed on the first content- consumption device 670.
• a first user may be communicating, using the first peripheral device 678, with a second user.
• the second user may be associated with the second content-consumption device 682 and, the second peripheral device 688.
• the first user may receive at the first peripheral device
• the server system may interpret (S734) the received message and augment (S736) the received message .
• the server system may send the augmented message to the fourth device (S738) .
• the server system may interpret (S734) the received message to determine a topic of interest.
• the server system may augment (S736) the received message with additional information related to the determined topic of interest.
• the augmentation may comprise a pointer in the message to additional information related to the topic of interest.
• the pointer may comprise a URL.
• the server system may interpret the message (S792) .
• the server system may augment (S794) the received message based on the message interpretation.
• the server system may send the augmented message (S796) to a second device .
• the second device may be a second content consumption device .
• the second device may be a device associated with a second content-consumption device.
• the second device may be a communication, handheld, computing or other device .
• the server system may send a control signal (S798) to a second content-consumption device.
• An exemplary alternative content-consumption method may comprise audio .
• the server system 806 may be communicatively coupled 808 to a second device 810.
• the second device 810 may be referred to as a monitoring device .
• the connection 808 between the monitoring device 810 and the server system 806 may be wired, wireless or other connection.
• communication between the server system 806 and the content-consumption device 800 may use the RTR database construct and management logic described in previous embodiments.
• communication between the server system 806 and the monitoring device 810 may use the RTR database construct and management logic described in previous embodiments.
• the server system 806 may authenticate the content-consumption device 800 , and once authenticated, an updated registration and discovery list of devices available to the content-consumption device 800 may be sent to the content-consumption device 800.
• the discovery list may be based on preferences set by a user.
• the server system 806 may authenticate the content-consumption device 800 based on a device password.
• the server system 806 may authenticate the device 800 based on a user password.
• the preferences data construct may be associated with the content-consumption device 800.
• the preferences data construct may be associated with a user.
• a connection 808 to the server system 806 may be initiated from the monitoring device 810.
• a user may use a single button on the monitoring device 810 to initiate the connection.
• Connection to the server system 806 may be initiated by a single-button press on the monitoring device 810.
• connection to the server system 806 may be initiated when the monitoring device 810 is powered up.
• connection to the server system 806 may be initiated by a combination of button presses on the monitoring device 810 , by a menu selection from the monitoring device 810 or other methods.
• the server system 806 may authenticate the monitoring device 8 10, and once authenticated, an updated registration and discovery list of devices available to the monitoring device 810 may be sent to the monitoring device 810.
• a server system 806 may receive (S860) a "content- shot” request from a monitoring device 810.
• the server system 806 may send (S862) a "content-shot” request to a content-consumption device 800.
• the server system 806 may receive (S864) a "content-shot” from the content- consumption device 800.
• the server system 806 may send (S866) the "content-shot” to the monitoring device 810.
• the server system 806 may receive (S868) a display message from the monitoring device 810.
• the server system 806 may send
• the display message to the content-consumption device 800.
• the "content-shot” may be processed at the server system 806 , and a processed “content-shot” may be sent to the monitoring device 810.
• a server system 806 may receive (S872) a display message from a monitoring device 810.
• the server system 806 may send (S874) the display message to a content-consumption device 800.
• the content characteristics may be related to display characteristics of a monitoring device 810. In alternative embodiments, the content characteristics may be related to characteristics of the communication channel between the server system 806 and the monitoring device 810. In still alternative embodiments, the content characteristics may be related to user preferences at the monitoring device 810.
• the content-consumption device 800 may process (S9 18) the "content-shot” according to the content characteristic. The content-consumption device 800 may send (S920) the processed "content-shot" to the server system
• a first device 960 may be communicatively coupled 962 to a server system 964.
• the connection 962 between the first device 960 and the server system 964 may be a wired, wireless or other connection.
• the 960 may comprise a master application 966 and a first participant application 968.
• the first device 960 may be a television.
• the server system 964 may be a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) application server.
• the master application 966 may be an application with no graphical user interface, also considered headless.
• An exemplary participant application 968 may be a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) browser. Communication between the master application 966 and the server system 964 , in an exemplary embodiment, may be via an extensible Markup Language - Remote Procedure Call (XML - RPC) protocol.
• XML - RPC extensible Markup Language - Remote Procedure Call
• the master application 996 may be an application with no graphical user interface , also considered headless. Communication between the master application 996 and the server system 994, in this exemplary embodiment, may be via an extensible Markup Language - Remote Procedure Call (XML - RPC) protocol.
• XML - RPC extensible Markup Language - Remote Procedure Call
• the master application 996 may initiate communication with the server system 994 by logging in to the server system
• the master application 996 may use the URL designated for itself to send another request to the server system 994.
• This master-application URL may invoke a server application at the server system 994 that may wait for instructions before returning responses.
• the instructions may come from either the master application 996 or the HTML browser 998.
• the master application 996 may launch the HTML browser 998 using the other URL, the one designated for the HTML browser 998 , received from the server system 994.
• the master application 996 may launch the HTML browser 998 from the operating system on which the master application 996 is running. When the HTML browser 998 is activated, the browser 998 may send a request to the URL which the server system 994 may be expecting.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Software Systems (AREA)
• Power Engineering (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Child & Adolescent Psychology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Library & Information Science (AREA)
• Computer And Data Communications (AREA)
• Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)
• Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)

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Publications (1)

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• 2008
  • 2008-03-13 US US12/047,825 patent/US20090234955A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2009
  • 2009-03-13 EP EP09719736A patent/EP2252939B1/en not_active Not-in-force
  • 2009-03-13 JP JP2010536264A patent/JP5107436B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2009-03-13 CN CN200980106946.3A patent/CN101960438A/zh active Pending
  • 2009-03-13 WO PCT/JP2009/055553 patent/WO2009113740A1/en active Application Filing

Patent Citations (2)

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